Ariza screamed his way around the court and in Brooks’ face after Brooks lost the ball on the last Rockets possession of regulation. But Brooks had just the response the Rockets needed to snap the hex the Mavericks had held over them.

Just when the Mavericks found a new and more painful way to torment the Rockets, Brooks scored nine points in overtime, helping the Rockets to the response that let them pull away for a bizarre, emotionally charged 116-108 win Friday, with Dallas preparing a protest of what owner Mark Cuban called “multiple misapplications of the rules.”

“I didn’t want to let what happened at the end of the game affect the way I came out,” Brooks said. “For this team, it was great. We were on a lull going into overtime. The teams that have momentum normally win the overtime.”

Ariza said his reaction to Brooks’ turnover was “in the heat of the moment.”

“I was just trying to tell him the last play of the game, if he’s going to take it, he should probably pull up because going in there, you’re probably not going to get a foul or anything can happen,” Ariza said. “It’s nothing big. It was just something on the court. We both want to win. I’m just going to say what I have to say and that’ll be it.”

“We were all emotional,” Brooks said. “Nothing’s personal. Everybody wants to win. I don’t think about it. I have a short-term memory. When people get mad, sometimes my mind goes elsewhere. I think happy thoughts.”

He and Kyle Lowry, who had a career-high 26 points along with 10 assists, six rebounds, five steals and a blocked shot, gave the Rockets plenty of such thoughts for a change after a game against Dallas, combining for 13 of the Rockets’ 16 overtime points. But until the final seconds, the game was filled with feelings ranging from frightening to furious.

Vicious collision

The Mavs’ Dirk Nowitzki and the Rockets’ Carl Landry were lost early in the second quarter when Landry cut off Nowitzki on a drive, catching Nowitzki’s right elbow in the mouth, dislodging or breaking parts of five of Landry’s teeth.

Landry was taken to the emergency room and will see an oral surgeon today to determine the extent of the damage. Nowitzki needed 30 minutes for pieces of Landry’s teeth to be removed from his elbow.

After they left, the Rockets answered the Dallas runs as they could not in the previous two meetings this season, won by the Mavericks by an average of 24.5 points after the Rockets had taken early leads. The Mavericks seemed to lose their poise, drawing six technical fouls, some at the worst possible times.

Midway through the fourth quarter, when Jason Kidd stopped Brooks with a hard foul, David Andersen confronted him, drawing double technical fouls and another on Dallas coach Rick Carlisle. Lowry hit the technical free throw and then sank a 3-pointer for a nine-point lead, and with three minutes remaining, the Rockets led by 10.

Mavs battle back

The Mavericks had another run in them. Brooks missed a 3 and one of two free throws with 19.1 seconds left, leaving Dallas within three. With 10.5 seconds left, the Mavs’ Tim Thomas waited as Chuck Hayes flew past, closing out to the 3-point line, then coolly tied the game.

Brooks then lost the ball, sending the game to overtime. The Rockets again pulled away, but not before there was one more odd exchange.

With the Rockets leading by six, Erick Dampier got loose under the rim, with Brooks grabbing Dampier for a flagrant foul with 1:01 left, and Dampier retaliating with an elbow that earned him a technical foul, his second, and an automatic ejection.

Brooks hit the technical free throw, giving the Rockets a 111-104 lead. Kris Humphries, whom the Rockets selected to shoot Dampier’s free throws, hit one free throw before the Rockets iced the win. They did it with Brooks losing the ball again, this time picking it up and passing out to Lowry, who hit his runner with 27.7 seconds left.